


The Many Frustrations of Being a Dog

by devilsstaircase



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dogs, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-22 10:51:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14307087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilsstaircase/pseuds/devilsstaircase
Summary: Karen adopts a black pit bull rescue named Frank.-Completed Work-





	1. Karen

I hadn’t been at the slammer very long when she first came to see me. She was tall, slender, and had long hair that almost came down to her waist. She wore it in a ponytail and it swished from side to side when she walked.

I just sat there and stared at her. I wasn’t sure yet if I could trust her. When I sniffed the air I could smell flowers. She looked at me, like most people who came to see me did, her eyes running all over my body. Like I’m some kind of piece of meat, you know? Then she nodded and picked up a placard that was hanging next to my cell. 

“Frank?” She said, looking over at me again. 

I cocked my head to the side. I’d heard that name before. It’s what the humans here who fed me and walked me called me.

“Purebred pit bull… hmm at the shelter? That’s weird,” she said. She seemed to be talking to herself but it was loud enough for me to hear which I found interesting. Not a whole lot of humans talked to me, even the few nice ones.

“Two years old, forty-five pounds… Frank is a black pit bull with a white diamond shaped spot on his chest. He is an energetic dog who needs a lot of exercise. He also needs someone who is willing to continue training him. He is remarkably easy to train and seems to naturally understand commands. Little is known about his life before the shelter. He was found walking along a highway…”

I yawned. This was a routine scenario. Every day dozens of people came to stand and stare at me. They read the same placard, they’d point at the white marking on my chest and marvel at its shape, and then they’d ask the friendly human named Ben if they could take me to the play yard. He’d always do it. And every time the humans would decide they didn’t want me after all. I didn’t care. I didn’t care about much in those days.

Some of the humans who changed their minds said I seemed depressed.

“He doesn’t want to play,” one burly man had said.

Ben would merely shrug. He’d explain the shelter environment could be stressful for some dogs. 

The shelter. That’s what the humans called it. Us dogs? We called it jail. Prison. The slammer.

As soon as I had arrived all the other dogs had gone crazy, barking and growling at me as I was led by their cells on the way to my own. 

“Fresh meat!”

“Yo! Welcome to prison!”

“RUN BOY! RUN! GET OUTTA HERE!”

“Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life,” one tiny chihuahua had growled. 

I gotta hand it to Ben. He seemed to get it. Seemed to understand us somehow despite being a different species. Most of the dogs really were stressed and hated the slammer but for me, hell, it was a step up from where I had been before.

“Frank, my name is Karen,” the woman said looking at me again. 

I had almost forgotten she was still there.

She was smiling. “I’m looking for a dog to keep me company,” she said.

I lay down and placed my head on my paws. So what else was new, lady?

As predicted, she flagged Ben down and asked him if we could all go to the play yard so that she could interact with me. 

Ben came over, all smiles as usual, and entered my cell. He attached a leash to my collar and I reluctantly followed him to the play yard. This Karen lady walked alongside me.

At the play yard I was let off the leash. Even in my misery, I knew it was rare to be outside of my cell. So I took the opportunity to take in all the smells and walk around the yard. Karen and Ben sat on a bench and watched me, talking amongst themselves.

I was sniffing at a patch of grass when I noticed a shadow appear next to me. I turned around to see Karen standing behind me.

“Hello, Frank,” she said.

She crouched down and began to pet me along my neck. It was nice but I was still wary. 

You see, I had come to understand that humans were fickle. One second they were nice and sneaking bacon to you from the dining table, the next they were hitting you with a broom and locking you up outside. I had no idea what type Karen was but something inside me was telling me she was one of the good ones.

In any case, I sat down and let her pet me. I sometimes saw it as my biggest flaw. Being pet. I fucking loved that shit.

After a while she reached into her pocket and took out a treat. I gobbled it up immediately. That was one of the nice things about having people come and see you. A lot of them would have treats.

“He’s been pretty mellow since he arrived,” Ben said from the bench.

“How long has he been here?”

“Six months.”

Had it really been that long? 

Karen stood up and rejoined Ben on the bench. They exchanged a few words and then Ben came over and attached the leash again. 

I figured Karen wouldn’t want me. 

Which was too bad because she seemed like a nice lady. A few of the others who had come and seen me had seemed nice too. A family with two small kids had come the week before. That was one of the few times that I had actually played. But as they were walking me back to my cell I heard the words “He’s too mean looking. Let’s look for a smaller dog,” and I knew I wouldn’t be seeing them ever again. 

I never got my hopes up so it was a surprise when Karen returned the next day. Karen, Ben, and I went to the play yard again. This time I spent a little more time getting to know her. I sniffed her shoes and nudged her hand so that she would pet me. She also gave me more treats which I gobbled up dutifully. 

She and Ben talked about me as I sat next to her. Her hand idly gliding over my back. I let myself relax for once as I listened to the drone of their voices. 

After an hour she was gone again and I was put back in my lonely cell. For the first time since I had arrived there I wanted one of the humans to take me with them. More specifically, I wanted Karen to take me with her.

It wasn’t until a few days later that she returned. I was so excited. It was like I was possessed. My tail wagged so hard I thought it would fall off. It didn’t, obviously.

I licked at the gaps in the chain link cell door. 

“Excited to see me?” She said.

“Yes ma’am!” I barked. 

She laughed and it was like the clouds in the sky had parted and the sun shone just for me.

We went out to the play yard and she tossed a tennis ball. I chased it and returned it to her. She seemed to really like that.

She came to visit me three more times.

I grew to like her in our short time together. She had a soothing voice and was gentle with her touch. She always came alone and I had wondered if she had any family of her own. She was tall and seemed strong and yet I instinctively wanted to protect her. And I would miss her like crazy when she’d leave.

After four days of visiting me she finally took me home. 

I didn’t know where we were going at first. Ben handed her the leash and we walked out of the shelter to a car that smelled like her. And just like that my cell days were behind me. 

It was the happiest I had been in a long time. 

We made one stop along the way. It was a large building with bags of dog food, plastic toys, and plush beds. I trailed behind her as she selected objects and placed them in a large cart that she pushed in front of her. 

After that she took me to her home. 

I looked out the window as we drove along. The scenery changed from rows of houses, to a bridge spanning a body of water, to rows of the tallest buildings I had ever seen in my life. There were so many humans everywhere. I had never seen so many humans before.

We stopped in front of a shorter gray building with a black front door. A man was standing outside of it fiddling with something in his hand.

“Foggy!” Karen called out to the man.

The man looked up and smiled, “Hey Karen! You got the dog?” He asked walking over to the car. I was still sitting in the back seat. The man spotted me and waved. He was a little taller and wider than Karen. His hair came down to his shoulders and was slicked back. 

“Yup! Thanks for meeting me. I’m going to need help carrying everything upstairs,” Karen said.

She opened the side door of the car and I leaped out. I headed straight for this Foggy character. I needed to know if he was trustworthy. I sniffed at his shoes. He smelled of food. I didn’t recognize what kind of food it was but it smelled damn good. 

The man crouched and held his hand out to me and I sniffed it. His hands also smelled of food.

“Hey there Frank,” the man said softly. 

I nudged his hand and the man pet me. He seemed alright. He was good in my book for now. Sometimes you can just tell, you know?

“He’s a nice dog,” Foggy said.

“Yeah. He seems to be alright with people,” Karen said. She was attempting to lift a large bag of dog food from her trunk.

“Here, I’ll get that,” Foggy said.

We went inside of the gray building and climbed up the steps. I was so excited I ran up the steps but I waited for Karen at each landing. She was a little slower than I was.

“Alright, here we are, Frankie boy,” she said when we stopped on the third floor.

She took out a set of keys and unlocked a door. 

“Welcome home.”

She unclipped the leash from my collar and I hopped in a circle. Karen and Foggy stood in the doorway and chuckled. I felt like a puppy again. 

This place. This place was my new home.

It was the nicest place I had ever seen. There was a large brown saggy couch, just the kind you could really sink into. A small table and dozens and dozens of books on a shelf. There was a small kitchen but it smelled amazing. A door led into a bedroom with the biggest bed I had ever seen. It was covered by a blue quilt.

I sniffed all around the place while Karen directed Foggy where to set her things. 

“The dog bed can go in the bedroom and you can place the dog food on the kitchen counter.”

Foggy did as Karen asked while Karen busied herself taking things out of a large plastic bag she was holding.

“Hey Frank, do you want a toy?”

She was holding something fuzzy in her hand. It looked delicious. I sat down with rapt attention. You bet your ass I wanted whatever that thing was she was holding.

She laughed and threw it over my head and I chased it. The thing looked like an animal but kind of tasted like plastic and made a squeaking sound when I bit down on it.

“That’s a loud toy,” Foggy said covering his ears. 

The high pitched squeaks coming from the toy drowned out Karen’s laughter. Finally, Karen took the toy from me and placed it on a high shelf. I don’t know why. I sat in front of the shelf waiting but they both ignored me so I went back to sniffing around the place. Maybe she had some food laying around somewhere.

“That white spot on his chest kinda looks like a skull,” Foggy said as he studied me.

Karen turned and examined me, “No, it’s a diamond,” she insisted.

Foggy shrugged, “Looks like a skull to me, huh Frank?”

I wagged my tail at him. 

“We should walk him,” Foggy said. I walked up to him, nudging his hand with my snout.

“Yeah! We can show him a little bit of the neighborhood,” Karen said.

She grabbed the leash off a hook by the door and I ran over to her. She clipped it on my collar and we were off again. We walked down stairs and back out the front door. 

“Welcome to the neighborhood,” Foggy said, “You’re a lucky dog!”

Lucky. I was better than lucky. 

The neighborhood was pretty clean. There were metal garbage cans in front of every building and the smells were intriguing. There were a few trees along the sidewalk but not as many as I had seen growing up. Karen seemed to know everyone and we stopped to talk to humans of all shapes and sizes.

At some point, some young human dressed in dirty jeans and a red sweater blocked our path.

“Would you guys like to donate to the Save the Penguins cause? Did you know that global warming…”

He spoke loudly and as he was speaking he was attempting to shove some paper into Karen’s hands. I didn’t know what the fuck a penguin was, but this guy was being aggressive with my girl. 

I bared my teeth and growled at him, “You better back up, buddy.”

“Whoa!” The kid said, stepping back.

That’s fucking right, I thought.

“Frank!” Karen said. She sounded horrified. I looked at her. She was looking at me with a disapproving look on her face. 

“Heel,” she said.

I knew what that meant and went and stood next to her.

“I’m so sorry,” she said to the kid but the kid didn’t look reassured. 

“Yeah,” he said and walked off without saying anything else.

“Damn,” Foggy said shaking his head at me. For some reason their reaction made me feel ashamed.

At the end of the block Karen tied me to a bicycle rack and she and Foggy went inside of a store.

“I’ll be right back,” she said.

I waited patiently. A few people who walked by patted me on the head but I didn’t turn away from the door in case I missed seeing Karen and Foggy come out.

When they appeared I stood up and wagged my tail. What must have been just a few minutes for them had felt like hours to me. 

After the walk we went home and Foggy left. Karen fed me a bowl of dog food. It tasted like chicken, as most things do. 

In the evening I lay down on the bed she had bought for me. I don’t know what it was made of but it was the most comfortable surface I had ever slept on. I felt like I was sleeping on an actual cloud. 

She climbed into her own bed and read out loud for a bit. Her voice lulled me into a deep sleep and I was dreaming by the time she turned out the light. 

“Goodnight Frank,” she said.

I woke up and raised my head.

“I’m very happy you’re here.”

Me too, Karen, I thought. Me too.


	2. Life With My Girl

My life with Karen and my life before being placed in the slammer were like night and day. 

Karen cared for me in a way only my mother had done before her. She fed me regular meals, brought me along everywhere, and talked to me. She would even read to me from one of several books she had on a shelf. She read me human stories about love and hardship. My favorites were the books she called war thrillers. Something about those humans defending their turf and their own spoke to me.

Most days she took me to a place she called “work”. She had her own room in that building with a huge desk covered with folders and paper. She bought another dog bed and placed it next to the desk. I’d lay around while she typed things called “articles” for a bearded man she called “Ellison”. 

Sometimes I’d leave her room and wander around the office. A few of the other people there were pretty interesting. There was a guy called Miles, who wore enormous glasses and always seemed to be on the phone. He always gave me a pat on the head when I came by. There was a lady called Florence who I liked too. She was forever unwrapping food from crinkly wrappers and sneaking me some sometimes. She liked when I’d come over. “You’re my special friend,” she’d say.

I visited Ellison too. He had a much larger room than Karen did filled with even more paper. He’d always nag at Karen for bringing me in but then when no one was looking he’d give me belly rubs and talk to me in a voice he only used on me.

So we had a nice routine going, me and Karen. We’d go to work from Monday to Friday and on the weekends we’d be outside at the park or at home on the couch. Sometimes we even went to Foggy’s house. He had a real nice place with a yard and he seemed to always have steak or ham and he’d sneak bits of it to me when Karen wasn’t looking. This guy knew about the good things in life.

A couple of times we went out at night to a place with outdoor seating. It was usually pretty rowdy at those places and it always smelled like alcohol. The smell made me uneasy. It reminded me of belligerence and abuse so I’d stay close to Karen to make sure she was safe. We’d usually walk home together and Karen would be stumbling along beside me. I’d always lick her hand to make sure she paid attention to where she was going and I’d bark and growl at the men in the shadows who leered at her.

Of course, she couldn’t always take me everywhere. Some places didn’t allow dogs and sometimes at work she’d have to go out and interview people. She usually left me with Ellison on those days. He’d protest loudly but as soon as she was gone and we were safely in his office he’d put his feet up on his desk and let his hand graze my back. He’d talk to me about everything. Work, family, his life… I probably knew more about this guy than I knew about any other human. Even Karen.

Sometimes Karen went out at night without me too. She’d make sure I had a nice meal and a good walk beforehand. Then she’d give me at treat, tell me to “stay”, and leave. I was always sad when I couldn’t go with her. I’d wait by the door until she came home. Sometimes she came home smelling like alcohol. She’d pat me on the head, kick off her heels, and flop on the couch for the night. Other times she came home just fine and showered and everything before going to bed. A few times she came home smelling like another person’s sweat. I didn’t really know what to make of that. 

I felt it was my duty to protect her though. I curled up next to her in the rare moments that she cried. I’d be on alert when it was dark, listening for intruders. I made sure her feet were covered when she collapsed on the couch after a night out. I’d wake her up in the mornings when it was time to go to work. I befriended her friends and stayed wary of strangers.

Things were good for the first time in my life. I loved our routine. I thrived. I gained some weight and I slept better than I ever had before. Things couldn’t be more perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have 4 more chapters but I thought about releasing them every couple of days depending on the response. Thanks for reading!


	3. Changes

One day there was a knock on the door. I barked like I normally did but before coming to the door Karen stopped by the mirror and fluffed up her hair.

I stood by the door and turned to look at her. I barked again, “Hey! There’s someone at the door!” I was trying to say.

“Hush, Frank!” Was all she said. 

I waited by the door for her to open it. She straightened out the dress she was wearing and then sprayed some insanely sweet odor onto her wrists and neck that made me want to gag.

Finally, she swung open the door. A man was standing there, holding a long stick. I was immediately on the defense.

“He’s got a stick!” I barked, “A STICK!”

“Frank! Hush!” She said to me loudly before turning to the man standing in the doorway. She smiled at him and I saw her cheeks flush.

“Hi Matt,” she said.

“Hey Karen,” he said. He had a smooth voice but there was something about it that put me on edge. He seemed a little too charming, if you know what I mean.

He tapped his stick against the ground as he came inside. It scared the shit out of me. I barked and stared at it and got into position, ready to lunge at it if needed.

“I think he’s scared of long things. He gets like that when I sweep sometimes,” Karen said over my barking. She sounded like she was apologizing but I didn’t really understand for what. 

“Oh, it’s okay,” this Matt guy said. He leaned the stick against the wall and crouched down, “Dogs love me.”

I stopped and stared at him.

Matt held his hand out to me, as some humans did, so that I could sniff it. I growled.

“Frank!” Karen said placing her hands on her hips and looking at me angrily. I immediately felt guilty and my tail disappeared between my legs. “I’m so sorry, Matt. He’s never done this to one of my guests before.”

“It’s okay,” Matt said. He remained crouched on the ground with his hand out. This guy was clearly not going to let me get away without greeting him. Karen crouched down next to him and held her hand out too. 

“Come on, Frank. Come say hi, “ she said. Her voice made me want to go over to her but I just had a bad feeling about this new guy. 

I took a few steps towards her and stopped, glancing at Matt. He was still crouched in the same position. He was wearing sunglasses and I couldn’t tell what he was looking at. I growled again.

“I just don’t understand,” Karen said lowering her hand.

“Maybe it’s the sunglasses,” Matt said. He took them off and put them in the front pocket of the shirt he was wearing, “There. How about now Frank?”

I knew from the second I saw his eyes that this human was blind. His eyes didn’t really focus on any one thing. He was looking in my general direction but he wasn’t seeing me. Which was strange because he didn’t really act blind. I never would’ve guessed it. I wondered if Karen was fooled.

I wanted to growl but I didn’t. Instead I closed the distance between us and sniffed his hand. I was curious now and I wanted to see what this guy was all about.

I smelled sweat covered by some strange musky scent and coffee. I don't know why it surprised me. They were all ordinary smells that I had smelled on many humans before him. His scent was even familiar. I had smelled it on Karen before. I had almost expected to smell something else though. Something sinister. Like blood and tears.

I sneezed and the man laughed. I walked over to Karen and stood by her side. I hoped this guy would leave now.

But he didn’t.

In fact, he stayed for a long time into the late hours of the night. He and Karen ate a delicious smelling meal at the table while I ate my boring kibble in my bowl on the floor. I could smell alcohol, which made me a little nervous. Karen always seemed to lose control of her body when she drank it.

I clung to Karen’s side while they ate. Lay down by her feet in case she needed me to attack Matt. 

After the meal they took me for a walk around the neighborhood. Matt had his stick with him and held onto my leash. I resented him for that, but I had gotten used to the stick. It wasn’t for hitting dogs. It was so that he could tell where he was going, as if he needed it.

I looked back at some point and they were holding hands. I promptly stood between them and nudged at Karen’s hand. She laughed and let go off Matt to pet me. Victory was mine. At least at that moment.

It didn’t last. When we returned they sat on the couch together and Karen sat next to Matt real close. I sat across from them and watched. Any time Matt’s hands began to slide down to her legs I’d growl. At first they laughed but eventually I began to sense annoyance coming from Matt. 

“We could go to the bedroom,” I heard Karen whisper into Matt’s ear.

When they stood up I marched into the bedroom ahead of them and Karen giggled.

“Not you, Frank,” she said.

I turned around and looked at her, incredulous. What did she mean not me?

I soon found out. She left Matt sitting on the bed and grabbed me by the collar. She led me out into the living room and told me to sit.

“Stay,” she said, patting me on the head before returning to the bedroom. She closed the door behind her.

Well, after the door shut I immediately stomped over to the bedroom door and listened. 

I could hear giggling and the rustling of sheets. I sniffed the gap underneath the door. I could smell sweat and something else I didn’t really recognize, though it made me think of dirty laundry.

The giggling turned to soft whispers but I couldn’t make out the words. Then Karen began to moan and gasp and I panicked. My ears perked up and I barked, “Karen, are you okay?”

She didn’t answer. Instead the moaning increased in volume and I could hear Matt begin to breathe heavily.

“KAREN!” I howled, “KAREN! IS EVERYTHING OKAY?”

I heard a laugh and then, “Frank! HUSH!” 

I stared at the door as the noises continued. I could hear something slamming repeatedly against the headboard of the bed and I wondered if Matt was hurting Karen. 

“Yes! YES! Don’t stop,” I heard Karen cry. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or sad. I began to bark again.

“KAREN! You need help? LET ME IN!” I barked as loudly as I could.

But the noises in her bedroom didn’t stop for a second. I began to cry. Whimpering softly.

I lay down with my head and paws pointed at her bedroom door, like an arrow. I waited. 

After a little while the noise finally began to subside and I heard Karen’s soft footsteps walking towards her bathroom. I raised my head and lifted my ear to listen. I heard Matt let out a satisfied sigh, the toilet flush, and then Karen’s footsteps heading towards the bedroom door.

I stood up as she opened it and I was so happy to see that she was okay. She was naked, but intact. I couldn’t smell any blood and she didn’t have any open wounds. My tail wagged uncontrollably and I licked her hand.

She patted me on the head and then returned to her bed and got in next to Matt. Matt was laying there with his hands clasped behind his head, his face turned towards the ceiling. 

She laid her head on his chest and began to run her finger along his chest.

I entered the room and the smell of Matt and Karen’s intertwined sweat was overpowering. I then knew what had been going on.

_This motherfucker._

“Hey! What’s he still doing here?” I barked.

Karen turned to me and pointed to my bed, “Bedtime Frank! Go to bed,” she commanded.

I slinked over to the bed, not taking my eyes off of them and sat down.

She smiled at me and then closed her eyes. A few minutes later they were both asleep and I realized this guy was going to be staying the night.

I lay down reluctantly. I was pretty tired too. But I didn’t sleep well. Every now and then I’d jerk awake and glance at Matt expecting to catch him in the middle of doing something terrible. Like hurting Karen or holding his stick over his head ready to hit me with it. I’d whine softly and then try to go back to sleep. I spent the whole night like that.


	4. Sabotage

Matt left early the next morning. They stood at the doorway slobbering all over each other for several minutes until finally I barked at them to knock it off.

I thought that was the last I’d see of him. 

I was wrong.

Instead, he started coming over every single fucking day. We’d come home from work and he’d be waiting for us outside her building. He’d stay the entire night and they’d lock me out of the bedroom for a while while they giggled and slammed each other into the headboard. 

He was there on the weekends, he was there when I woke up, he was there when I’d go to sleep… the only refuge I got was when Karen and I went to work.

I tried to talk to Ellison about it.

“This Matt guy… he just won’t fuck off, you know?” I’d bark and growl.

Ellison would just stare at me with his eyebrow raised then ask me some totally unrelated question.

“You need to go out, Frank?”

“NO, I don’t fucking need to go out, man.”

But we’d go out anyway. It was incredibly frustrating.

Matt was even there when we’d go to Foggy’s place. Apparently, Foggy and Matt were best friends and they’d laugh and slap each other on the back whenever they were together. I’d watch jealously from the corner of the room. Foggy was supposed to be _my_ friend. 

Matt tried many times to befriend me. He’d bring me treats and sometimes new toys which I promptly ignored. He’d talk to me in a gentle voice and hold out his hand. But I just didn’t trust this guy.

I mean, first of all, Karen really thought the guy needed help seeing things. But he actually didn’t. When she’d leave the room I’d see him move about without any trouble. This was a red flag to me and I tried to warn her many times.

Matt would come knocking at the door and I’d bark, “Karen, you do know this guy is still able to see somehow, right?”

But all she’d say is, “Hush, Frank,” as she let Matt in. 

One time Matt came over and Karen said something along the lines of, “I’m going to go freshen up,” and left Matt sitting on the couch. Normally, I’d follow her but I stayed behind and kept my eyes on Matt.

As soon as she closed her bedroom door behind her, Matt got up and walked over to the window. He didn’t bump into anything. He stepped over my toys, which I had purposefully strewn all over the room as obstacles for him, and stood by the window. He had his head tilted and seemed to be listening for something.

“KAREN! KAREN, COME SEE THIS,” I began barking immediately. 

I think I made Matt nearly jump out of his skin.

“Frank? What the hell,” I heard Karen say. I heard her footsteps approaching her bedroom door.

“KAREN! HURRY!” I barked.

Matt flew across the room, stepping gingerly around my toys and dove back onto the couch just as Karen stepped out of her bedroom.

“What’s going on in here?”

Matt shrugged, wiping sweat off his brow, “N-nothing. He just started barking for no reason.”

I cocked my head at him. _This motherfucker._

I had to change tactics. Because obviously getting Karen to catch Matt red handed was going to be too difficult. I thought about it long and hard as I stared at them asleep in each other’s arms on Karen’s bed that night. Just as I was falling asleep myself I came up with a new plan.

Karen liked to cook dinner for Matt sometimes. He’d come over, sit on a barstool at the kitchen counter while she cooked and they’d talk. She’d usually set sliced vegetables, and meats on the kitchen counter while she worked. 

On one of these occasions, while she had her head stuck in the fridge digging for some special sauce and couldn’t see what I was doing, I placed my forelegs on the counter and reached for some raw chicken with my tongue. I knew Matt was “watching” me.

I heard him clear his throat loudly but Karen stayed behind the refrigerator door. I could hear glass bottles clinking against each other as she moved them around looking for a specific one. My tongue got closer to the chicken on the counter.

Matt began to cough.

“You okay, honey?” Karen called, but didn’t look up from refrigerator.

“Uh.. yeah,” Matt said. 

I was inches away from the chicken now. Just as I was about to clamp my jaws around the piece of raw chicken Karen had worked so hard on, Matt dropped the wine glass he was holding.

Karen jumped at the sound of the glass hitting the floor. She looked up from the refrigerator and saw me. Her eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed in anger.

“Frank! OFF!” She yelled.

I immediately pushed off the counter but in doing so knocked the cutting board with the chicken and vegetables to the ground. 

“Frank! Look what you’ve done!” Karen got up and slammed the refrigerator door shut. It wasn’t often that she got angry with me and by the tone of her voice I could tell I was in big trouble. 

I slinked to the corner, my head down and my tail between my legs.

“Bad dog!” She said. I hated those words. They meant she was _really_ angry with me.

Meanwhile, Matt was smirking at me from behind her. 

“I’m sorry about the wine glass,” he said smoothly.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I have plenty,” she said smiling.

Don’t worry about it, I thought. DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT?

The unfairness of it all was not lost on me. Karen punished me by telling me to sit in the corner and stay. If I moved even a few inches she’d glare at me and say, “Ah-ah!” And I’d have to go back in the corner. I stayed like that all throughout their dinner party. They ended up ordering pizza and I wasn’t allowed to have any. 

After dinner they sat on the couch, as usual, a knot of arms and legs. Matt was stroking Karen’s hair and smiling. Karen was looking down at the thing she called a “tablet” and reading the news to us outloud.

I was lying down on a bed Matt had bought for me that they had placed in the living room. Now I had a bed in the bedroom, one in the living room, and one at work. That’s how you know you’ve made it. 

So, none of my plans so far had worked. But I had one more trick up my sleeve. 

The next day we all went on a morning walk. It was a Saturday morning so neither Karen or Matt had to go to work. This was annoying because then Matt would hang around all day. Also they’d stay in bed so long in the morning cuddling and giggling that I felt like my bladder would literally burst. 

Eventually I had enough of their canoodling.

“GET THE FUCK UP! I _NEED_ TO GO OUT,” I barked. I stood on my hind legs and waved my forelegs at them.

“Guess he has to go out,” Matt laughed, nuzzling his face into Karen’s neck.

“Fuck yes I gotta go out,” I barked, “Get the fuck up!”

They finally rolled out of bed and into sweatpants and old t-shirts. I raced downstairs ahead of them. Gotta take care of my business before I sabotage Matt.

When I was done we walked around the block. This was my opportunity. All I had to do was catch Matt off guard. 

We were approaching an intersection. Karen was holding onto the leash. I looked left and right as we got closer to the crosswalk. Timing was crucial.

We reached the crosswalk and Karen began to turn to keep walking down the sidewalk to go around the block instead of crossing the street. With all my strength I lunged forward pulling Karen into the intersection just as a car was driving up.

“Frank!” Karen cried.

The car was inches away from hitting us but Matt pushed us out of the way. The car swerved, missing us by a hair, and honked angrily as it drove off. 

Karen was sprawled on the ground. I licked her face apologetically but inside I was thinking, “See, Karen. How would he have known to do that if he can’t see?”

“Frank, what were you thinking?” She said in between tears. I suddenly felt really guilty. My ears flattened against my head. 

She hadn’t been in any actual danger. I had made sure not to go too far into the street but to Karen it must have seemed like she had evaded certain death. I didn’t know how to reassure her. She didn’t understand my barking so I kept licking her face. I felt like a real asshole. 

She hugged me to her chest and stroked my back. Then she seemed to remember Matt and turned around.

He was standing behind us with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

“How did you… how did you know to push us out of the way?” Karen asked.

_Yes! Yes, we got em._

Matt shrugged, “I heard the car coming. It was… instinct,” he said.

My heart sank.

“Oh Matt, my hero!” Karen said, getting up and throwing her arms around him.

This was not going the way I had thought it would. 

After that, we practically raced home and Matt and Karen locked themselves up in her bedroom again. The noises were louder than I had ever heard them before. When she started screaming I panicked for a moment. But she started laughing soon after and there was nothing for me to do but lay there and listen to it all. 

None of my plans had worked. I had compromised myself and Karen in my attempts and I had crossed a line. I felt really shitty about it. I realized then it just wasn’t worth it. 

Even though Matt was hiding the fact that he really didn’t need any help to see things and that he in fact could see despite his eyes not working, there didn’t seem to be anything else wrong with him. And Karen was happy. Happier than she had been before Matt came into our lives. So, for that, I came to respect him. A little, anyway. He was still an annoying little shit most of the time.

I mean, he’d make me do things that I didn’t really want to do. Like before feeding me he’d make me do one of those useless new tricks Karen’s been trying to teach me for ages. And only when I’ve shaken his hand with my paw or rolled over would he set my food bowl down for me.

“It’ll help him learn his tricks,” he’d always say.

Whatever. I just wanted to eat my goddamn food. What’s the point of “rollover” and “shake” anyway?

Not only that but he’d insist I stay in the living room whenever he and Karen went into the bedroom to slam the headboard against the wall, even though I’d gotten used to the noises and no longer barked at them.

“I just feel weird. It’s like he’s watching us,” he’d say. And Karen would laugh, pat me on the head, and tell me to stay.

Well, he was right. I would watch. But why does that matter?

For the most part Matt just became another part of our lives. Like the bookshelf or the lamp in the corner.

As the months went by, and yes, even years, Matt blended into the fabric of our lives like the hum of a mosquito does after you’ve given up and stopped paying attention to it.

So, you can imagine that it was a real shock to me when they first started to fight.

It happened so gradually that I didn’t notice anything until after things began to fall apart and I looked back and realized there had been red flags along the way.

They were little things. Like Matt would come over for dinner half an hour late, hair unkempt and sweaty, and apologizing profusely. Karen would nod quietly and shrug at first.

Then half an hour became one hour and one hour became nearly two. Even I grew annoyed since Karen wouldn’t give me dinner until we were all present to eat together.

The excuse was always that Matt had had to work late. I’d always shrug inwardly and think to myself, it’s cool, we all gotta make a living. But next to me Karen would be quaking with anger.

“You couldn’t have sent me a message?” She yelled. It was the first time she had ever yelled at him.

I was so startled I couldn’t even smirk at Matt from behind her.

Matt was startled too. He stood there mouth agape but he composed himself rather quickly.

“I’m sorry. Things just ran late. I wasn’t in a position to pull out my cell phone,” he said straightening his tie.

A pretty reasonable explanation, in my opinion, but obviously Karen didn’t agree.

Karen stood before him, fists clenched at her sides, and biting her lip. I watched warily, ready to intervene if things got out of hand.

But they didn’t that night. No sir, the worst was yet to come.

One evening, Karen and I were doing our usual walk around the neighborhood. Instead of turning right on W 48th St like we usually did, we kept walking straight. After about fifteen minutes we stopped. Karen took out her phone and began tapping on the screen with her fingers. I knew she wasn’t actually paying attention to it. Her eyes weren’t even on the damn thing. Instead, she was looking across the street.

I turned to look at what she was looking at. It was Matt. He was standing in front of a convenience store talking animatedly to some woman with long dark hair who was wearing a black velvet dress.

I ran to the end of the leash and was about to bark out, “Matt! Yo! Where you been, buddy?”

But Karen pulled me into a nearby alleyway before I could do anything. She leaned against the wall and breathed heavily.

She was crying.

I hadn’t seen her cry in a long time. The last time she cried was probably over some dog movie back home. Matt had been there to wipe away her tears then.

But he wasn’t here now. So I stepped in and nudged at her hand. She crouched down and hugged me.

“Come on, let’s go,” she whispered.

And we walked home.

Whatever Matt had done to Karen had me livid. I was seeing red. 

The next time Matt came over, I barked and snapped at the door. I could smell him on the other side.

“The fuck are you doing here?” I roared.

Karen, on the other hand, was as calm as you could be. She waited on the couch with a book on her lap, though she wasn’t really reading.

Matt came in using the spare key Karen had given him a few months ago.

“Hey! We don’t want you here!” I barked standing in between Matt and Karen.

Matt had his hands up and his face turned towards her. She looked up from her book and let me go on for a few more seconds. 

“Frank, hush, please,” Karen said but she sounded defeated and like she didn’t really mean it.

I stopped growling and went to her side. Karen had gotten up from the couch and was standing by the window looking out.

“Karen?” Matt said. I could hear the uncertainty in his voice and suddenly I felt the tension in the room like a thick fog that had rolled in while I wasn’t paying attention.

Karen’s voice cut through the ensuing silence, “Who is she?”

“Who?”

I knew Matt knew damn well who she meant. I growled at him again.

Karen half turned and looked over her shoulder, “The woman with the dark hair.”

Matt sighed and lowered his head. Karen seemed to take this as some kind of confession. She turned around, her hair flying over her shoulder like a whip, nearly knocking down a vase of white roses she had placed on a high shelf beside her.

“Well?”

“I promise you. It was work related,” Matt started.

“Bullshit. I saw you with her on Sunday evening. She was dressed like you were going to go out somewhere.”

“Karen, she always dresses like that.”

“Who is she?”

“This is going to sound bad,” Matt hesitated, “She’s my ex-girlfriend. She’s in town and she wanted to see me. She needed legal advice.”

Karen stood there. Tears were beginning to stream down her face.

“How long have you two been talking?”

“A couple of months.”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING?” She bellowed. It was so loud I thought all the glass in the apartment would shatter.

I watched and remained absolutely still. When two humans fought like this they sometimes took it out on the dog and my past experiences with the matter had me worried.

“I didn’t want to worry you,” Matt said lamely, “Elektra… she can be kind of… difficult.”

“Elektra?” Karen scoffed. She shook her head, “There’s something else,” she said, more quietly now. She paused then in one swift move she picked up the vase of white roses off the shelf and hurled it at Matt.

He dodged it easily and it exploded in a million pieces against the wall behind him.

For a moment it felt like everything in the world had stopped. 

“I… I can explain,” Matt said holding out his hands as if to placate the anger inside Karen that was visibly beginning to boil over. 

“Get out,” she said, her voice an unrecognizable venomous hiss.

“Karen, I-”

“Get the fuck out.”

Without another word Matt turned around and walked out.

Karen stood there, chest heaving up and down, her entire body shaking for several minutes. Then she fell to her knees and began to sob into her hands. Her wailing tore through the silence that Matt’s departure had left behind.

I automatically went to her and dug my head underneath her arm. She hugged me and cried into my side, rocking me back and forth. 

I stared at the door and pieced together what had happened.

Somehow, without my help, Karen had figured out that Matt wasn’t as impaired by his blindness as he made it seem. On top of that, he hadn’t told her about meeting with his ex-girlfriend. For some reason, that I didn't fully understand, the latter made Karen really upset.

Well, I had gotten what I wanted. At least, what I had wanted when Matt had first come into our lives. But I could feel Karen’s pain as if it were my own and it was killing me.


	5. Frank the Dog

I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you about my past. You see, I hadn’t felt this kind of pain since before I was placed into the slammer. 

I was born an innocent little thing. The first of a litter of eight. My mother was a white pit bull with black spots and I never knew my father. We lived on some kind of farm with a bunch of other animals. My mother, brothers and sisters, and I were the only dogs there. It was a happy time. I remember wrestling with my brothers and sisters and sleeping all together in a pile in the barn.

Slowly but surely, one by one, my brothers and sisters were taken away, each by a different human so that we all ended up separated from each other and we never saw each other again. My mother didn’t understand what was going on. She’d look for her pups everywhere after they’d gone. I was sad too. It broke my heart.

Eventually, I was the only one left. 

I heard the human who owned the farm talking about me being a hard sell. People thought I looked too mean and didn’t want me. So he began to offer me up for free and that’s how I was finally taken by a man and a woman. I was six months old. 

Never saw my mother or the farm again. Only in my dreams.

The man and woman who finally took me threw me in the back of their pick up truck. It was probably the scariest ride of my life. I tried to lay flat in the bed of the car because I was afraid of flying out and into the road. The man drove fast, swerving through turns, and braking abruptly which caused me to crash into the walls. I cried for my mother the whole way.

The man and woman lived in a small house. They tied me up to a chain in their backyard and left me there. Every now and then the man would bring me a bowl of food and water. He’d also take me and force me to exercise on a device he called a “treadmill”. It was the only time we spent any time together and I hated myself for looking forward to seeing this man but at the time he was the only living thing I’d see besides the birds in the sky and the ants crawling around in the dirt.

I never interacted with the woman. I’d hear her inside of the house. She and the man would have screaming fights sometimes and she’d storm off, peeling out of the driveway in the pick up truck. Then the man would come out looking for me. He always stank of alcohol. He’d beat the shit out of me every time. Eventually, I started to try to hide from him but there was nowhere to go in his yard.

I lived like that for one and a half years. 

I never fought back. Somehow I thought I deserved to be beat. Looking back I don't know why I thought that. I think I was just always hopeful things would change. 

It was a confusing time. The man treated me like garbage but occasionally he’d get a soft look in his eyes and pet me on the back. Or he’d come out with pieces of bacon and other such treats. And no matter how badly he had beaten me before I’d always forgive him when he did this. I always thought that the last time really was the last time.

One day the man came out into the yard with a leash. He took me into the truck. I actually got to sit in the front this time and I couldn’t help but be excited to be out of the yard, and away from that house. 

My excitement was short lived.

We drove to an abandoned building where a bunch of men and a few women had gathered. They all looked at me and exclaimed things like,”Damn, that’s a badass looking dog!”

They took me into a fenced ring and brought out another dog. The dog was a little smaller than me and was straining against his leash. He was practically foaming at the mouth.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” He barked at me. I don’t know why, I had never met this dog before. But it excited all of the humans. 

My owner and another man held us facing each other and then let us off our leashes. It was then I realized they wanted us to fight. 

The other dog attacked me immediately. Sinking his teeth into my side. I managed to break free, and I attempted to leap over the fence that surrounded us.

In that moment everything made sense. The isolation, the treadmill workouts, and even the beatings. My owner had been preparing me for this fight.

I had never been in a fight before besides the harmless wrestling I did with my brothers and sisters. But it felt wrong to fight this dog I had never met before. As far as I knew, this dog had done nothing wrong. He didn't deserve it. And I could tell by the yells coming from the humans around us that they wanted us to fight to the death. 

The humans were booing loudly and the other dog was snarling and snapping at my hind legs but I managed to get over. As soon as I did I made a beeline for that other dog’s owner. No piece of shit would get away treating one of my fellow dogs like this. That dog was gone. That dog was batshit crazy. And it was all the fault of this cowering shitbag in front of me.

I reached him and bit down on his calf hard. I sank my teeth into his flesh and held on. I could hear screaming as the other people around us scrambled away. 

The other dog’s owner attempted to shake me off which only caused some of his flesh to be torn from his leg. I felt strangely satisfied at the ripping sound. All the beatings I had been through ran through my head as this man's flesh tore inside of my mouth. All of the bruises, all of the pain. All of the suffering I'm sure his dog had gone through too.

One loud “HEY” rose above the chaos. It was my own owner.

Obedient as ever I let go of the guy as my owner approached me.

He looked furious. I knew I had disappointed him and I was bracing myself for another beating. He placed a leash on me and took me back to the truck. I thought maybe we were going home but my owner drove me to an empty field instead. He let me off the leash and I ran around the field, enjoying my sudden freedom. Maybe things would change after all. 

He watched me angrily, “Fucking waste,” he spat. Then he pointed a long thing at me. I was confused and scared. I began to back away. 

A loud bang rang through the air and I felt a burning on my side. I hauled ass out of there. Whatever that thing had been, it had hurt like a motherfucker.

I ran as fast and as far as I could. Then I walked. I walked until I couldn’t walk anymore. 

Just as I was about to collapse a car stopped a few feet ahead of me and a soft voice called out to me, “Hey boy, you okay?”

Everything went black after that.

When I woke up I was in a bright white room, inside of a kennel. I had been shaved in the spot where I had felt the burning earlier, and there was something connected to my front paw. I was really drowsy so I laid my head back down and went back to sleep.

The next time I woke up I was taken to the slammer by a tall lanky human with a gentle voice. It was Ben.

“Your name is Frank,” he said, “Do you like that name?”

I had never had a name before. 

So, I became Frank. And I waited. Until that fateful day that Karen walked into my life.


	6. The Power of Love

Humans are pretty good at hurting other creatures. And they are damn good at hurting each other.

But ever since Karen took me in, I had learned that humans could be good too. She changed everything about my life. She taught me that I could be loved. 

I felt like I owed her everything and I couldn’t stand to see her so miserable. 

I tried my hardest. I really did. But she seemed to have fallen into some kind of hole and I didn’t have the arms to pull her out of it.

Over the next several weeks she became a zombie. Gone were the colorful dresses of before, replaced by baggy gray sweats and too big t-shirts.

It became really hard to get her out of bed in the mornings. I’d bark and nudge at her for an hour before she finally got up and took me out. 

She wore a hat and sunglasses everywhere she went. I think it was to hide her swollen eyes.

At work she would just go through the motions. Even Ellison noticed and he talked to me about it while she was out doing interviews one time. I didn’t bother responding because he’d only end up asking me if I needed to go outside if I so much as made a peep.

She stopped answering calls and stopped going out on the weekends. We’d sit side by side on the couch under a big fuzzy blanket and watch TV. She’d order pizza and even let me have some sometimes.

The movies we watched were usually about a guy and a girl and sometimes a dog thrown in for comic relief. They usually lived in a place that looked exactly like where we lived. Tall buildings and concrete and all. The guy would do something that made the girl cry. Then he’d do some extravagant bullshit and the girl would take him into her arms.

Oh, and the dog usually died at the end.

I didn’t know why we watched this shit. Karen would always end up bawling. I’d usually try to grab the remote at this point but Karen would just scold me and place it somewhere out of reach.

On one of these occasions we were interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

“Karen, I know you’re in there!” A familiar voice called from the other side.

I leaped off the couch and began barking, “Foggy, is that you?”

Karen groaned and got up. She ran her fingers through her hair. They got caught and after tugging for a bit she gave up. She gave the apartment one quick glance and shrugged before finally letting Foggy in.

I jumped up on him, trying to lick his face. It had been a long time since I’d seen him. It had been a long time since anyone had been over.

“Hey boy! Sit!”

I sat.

“Good boy!” Foggy patted me on the head.

Then he looked up at Karen who had returned to her nest on the couch.

“Holy shit,” he muttered while his eyes travelled around the apartment. 

I followed his gaze. There were take out containers everywhere and piles of unopened mail. My toys were scattered all over the place and it smelled like dog, dirty laundry, and rotting food. I didn’t see anything wrong with it.

Foggy marched over to the TV and switched it off.

“Hey! I was watching that,” Karen and I barked simultaneously.

“Karen, this needs to stop.”

Karen looked up at him and her entire jaw began to quiver.

“Karen,” Foggy said softly.

He sat down on the couch next to her and put his arm around her. I jumped up on the couch on her other side.

“I loved him,” she said in a voice so broken it made me want to cry.

Foggy stroked her hair and switched to patting her on the shoulder when his fingers got caught.

“Matt was a dick for lying to you, Karen.”

“Did you know?”

Foggy shook his head.

“Then he was a dick for lying to you too.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t his girlfriend.”

Karen sniffed.

“Look, Karen, for what it’s worth, he wasn’t lying about Elektra. She really did hire him as her company’s lawyer for some liability lawsuit.”

Karen didn’t say anything.

“As for the blind thing, well, you’ll have to ask him about that.”

Karen snorted and rolled her eyes.

Foggy sighed, “He feels like shit about the whole thing. You should at least give him a chance to explain himself.”

Karen opened her mouth to protest but Foggy held up his hand. “I’m tired of being the mediator between you two. I’m done.”

Karen closed her mouth and nodded, “I’m sorry. It’s not fair to you to be caught up in this mess.”

“No, it isn’t.”

She looked at him and smiled for the first time in weeks. If I could I would’ve hugged the shit out of Foggy for that. 

“Come on,” Foggy said, “Take a shower, put on some actual clothes. We’ll walk Frank and we can head out to that diner with the outdoor seating near my place.”

And just like that Karen got up and did as he said. I swear, Foggy was like a goddamn magician. While she got ready he went around and tidied up the place. He threw out the food containers, put away my toys, and sorted the mail.

After that Karen stopped acting like a zombie. In the mornings she got up on time, she wrote articles with enthusiasm, and started wearing skirts and dresses again.

It was amazing really. The power humans had to help each other out. It made me want to be human too. Somehow Foggy had been able to pull Karen out of the hole she had fallen into.

One night, about a week after Foggy had been over she cleaned the entire apartment in a frenzy usually reserved for special guests.

Then she sat down on the couch with a book in her lap, staring blankly at the pages. I had a feeling I knew what was about to happen.

A few minutes later there was a timid knock on the door. I sprang up from my position by Karen’s feet and began barking.

“THERE’S SOMEONE AT THE DOOR!”

“Yeah, yeah. Hush, Frank,” Karen said.

She got up and stood in front of the mirror next to the front door and fluffed up her hair. I sniffed the gap underneath the door.

Sweat, musky cologne, and coffee.

_No fucking way._

Karen opened the door and I immediately growled and lunged at Matt.

“Frank!” Karen grabbed me by the collar and pulled me back. “No, Frank. Do you want to be locked in the bedroom?”

I sure as hell wasn’t going to miss this so I stopped.

“Good boy.”

Karen stood back up and looked at Matt with a sad look in her eyes, “Come in.”

Matt walked in and leaned his stick against the wall. He stood there awkwardly. Waiting.

“Have a seat,” Karen said.

Matt walked over to the couch, stepping over my toys, and sat down.

Karen studied him as he did it. Matt cleared his throat.

“I can start from the beginning.”

Karen sat down in an armchair across from him and nodded.

And Matt started talking. Boy, could this guy fucking talk. He talked so long that by the time he was done, the sun had set all the way and it was pitch black in the room. No one had bothered to get up and switch on the lights while he spoke so now they sat there illuminated only by the soft glow of the moonlight. 

And the story he told. It was kind of unbelievable. Apparently, he had lost his sight saving some old guy from being hit by a truck by pushing him out of the way. The truck had been carrying big steel drums full of some kind of toxic waste. This shit ended up in Matt’s eyes and blinded him. 

He wasn’t an ordinary blind person either. Something in the waste had heightened his other senses so much that he could get around no problem.

The reason he had hidden this from Karen was that he just hadn’t known how to tell her and he didn’t want her to think he was some kind of freak. He used to be teased at school about it in the beginning and until he had made the decision to just act 100% blind all the time people would whisper about what an anomaly he was. This guy’s eyes are fucked and yet he can pretty much see. What a freak! And Matt, of course, had heard it all. 

As for Elektra, well, she was old news. History. Didn’t bring it up because it hadn’t seemed like a big deal. She was just another client. She meant nothing to him now.

At the end of his story Karen sat quietly for a while, then got up and stood by the window. 

Finally, in a soft voice, she said, “I would never think you were a freak."

Matt’s face lit up like a fucking christmas tree.

He got up and approached her but stopped halfway. She turned and smiled at him then closed the distance between them and threw herself into his arms.

It was just like those fucking movies we’d been watching.

These humans and their fickle emotions. I’ll never understand it.

So, Matt was back and I’ll admit it, I was happy. Karen was always on cloud nine when he was around and he never lied to her again.

If he did, I’d make sure to beat his ass.

I suppose you think I’ll tell you that at this point I died for some tragic reason. Like they found a tumor in my brain and I only had one week left to live or my old bullet wound started causing me problems again before finally killing me but thank god I had been around to see Matt and Karen make up, right?

Well, I’ve got news for you.

Of course I died. Everybody dies eventually.

But I didn’t die that year or even the next. 

No sir. I lived until the very ripe old age of 105, or fifteen for you humans. Matt wasn’t getting rid of me that easy.

I was there through it all: the wedding, the honeymoon, the baby, the house in Brooklyn.

I was the best man at the wedding… after Foggy.

And I never bit another human again, in case you’re wondering. There was never any reason to. I had learned what it was like to love and be loved. Sometimes shit happened but as long as you had the people you loved around you, well, nothing else really mattered, right?

Oh, and the baby? That kid was my best friend. When I passed the kid was already ten years old, can you believe that?

Anyway, I wasn’t sad to go. I knew that my time was done and I was at peace with it. I went out into the yard and found a shady spot beneath the tree and lay down to wait for death. My humans were devastated when they found me. Even ol’ Matt. 

But I tried to reassure them with my feeble barks, before I closed my eyes for the last time, of something that I had come to learn in my final days. Of something that I was absolutely sure about. 

That we would meet again. 

In another life. 

In another universe.

And perhaps…

Perhaps there I would be a human too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed!  
> There will be some time between this and the next fic I think. Depending on how much I'm able to get done on a day to day basis. But I am already working on something new. Stay tuned! :)


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